The Taking of Deborah Logan suffers from the abundance of films that feature its main elements. You can already hear the people complaining about another found footage horror movie. And another possession film. But the film is actually a little better than your average modern horror flick. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it employs these tired tools in surprisingly effective ways. The Taking of Deborah Logan makes the case that these elements aren’t inherently bad. All they really need is a little more thoughtfulness in the application.
Mia (Michelle Ang) is making a documentary about Alzheimer's patient Deborah Logan (Jill Larson) and her daughter Sarah (Anne Ramsay). She and her crew want to document the pressures of caring for a loved one suffering from dementia. But soon, it seems like the illness can no longer explain Deborah's strange behavior. Their cameras capture a series of bizarre events that indicate something more diabolical at play. Mia and her crew work with Sarah to figure out what's going on, leading them to a tragic event in the past that has a surprising connection to Deborah.
The film's smartest moments come in conflating dementia with the supernatural. There is something compelling in the characters' inability to distinguish between the symptoms of the disease and something more sinister. The film capitalizes on the tension that grows between a person and his or her afflicted loved one, the gulf that develops as his or her behavior grows stranger and tougher to accept. Sarah is drinking to cope with the gradual loss of her mother, having written her off before she's actually gone.
The film is a little less interesting once everyone accepts that there's something more going on. There isn't a whole lot to the mystery, the revelations somewhat underwhelming. But even then, the film is able to get to some intriguing places. It actively subverts a few horror tropes, with characters that act a little smarter than usual. They don't ignore the horrible things going on, and they each deal with the absurdity of the situation in mostly logical ways. The film has fun with some of the clichés of the genre, commenting on them in smart, at times humorous ways.
And the film delivers at least one memorable image, which is a lot more than one can say about most found footage horror films. It is also keenly aware of the rules of the technique, taking the time to make sure that having a camera or a microphone around makes sense. The film also benefits from a set of strong performances. TV veteran Jill Larson is awfully effective as Deborah, the actress both affecting and terrifying at the appropriate instances.
The Taking of Deborah Logan isn't revolutionary by any means. But it an age where found footage horror films are the norm, it stands out for putting just a bit more thoughtfulness into its production. It doesn't take the conceit for granted, and it manages to make its experience more immersive in the process. And though it eventually doesn’t matter much, the film is built on a premise that explores something more than just ghosts hanging around some house.
My Rating:
